Sustainable Development: Renewable Energy Implemented within England - Assignment Example

 Sustainable Development: Renewable energy implemented within England Introduction The world is facing severe energy crisis at present because of the increased population, changing life styles, industrial developments, and the exhaustion of conventional energy sources like coal, oil, etc. Automobiles usages are increasing day by day and most of the automobiles are working on the nonrenewable energy; oil. According to some recent studies, the oil resources available at present are sufficient enough for a couple of decades more only. We have to find out certain alternate renewable energy sources to replace the oil energy in near future itself. The world in general and England in particular is making every effort to develop renewable energy sources. Solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, wave power, geothermal power, bio-fuels etc are the major renewable energy sources England is currently trying to exploit. There are many projects in England at present which are working on renewable energy sources. This paper briefly analyses the sources of renewable energy have been implemented within England in recent times. Solar Energy projects implemented in England Solar energy is one of the major renewable energy sources available on earth. But science has not succeeded in developing cheap technologies to convert solar power in to other useful forms of energy. Many research and developments are going on at present in order to make the conversion process of solar energy cheaper. The West Yorkshire town is producing 5% of the country's domestic solar power - more than any other district - thanks to a major council-backed project installing solar panels. Kirklees Council has teamed up with the European SunCities scheme to install solar panels on 250 council houses. Solar panels are also in use at its council care homes and on some private housing. Kirklees Council renewable energy officer Kate Parsons said: "By the end of February we will have installed 4.9% of the total amount of solar electricity installed in the UK, making it the largest domestic solar project in the UK" (Huddersfield - the solar energy capital of the UK, n. d) Compared to other European countries, solar energy utilization in England is less. But West Yorkshire town is an exception in this case. Solar power utilization in Yorkshire town is increasing day by day and they have planned to spread the solar energy usages to each and every house in Yorkshire. Big solar panels are installed on the house tops and the solar energy is converted to electrical, thermal and mechanical energies for the house requirements using this solar panels. Yorkshire has realized that the solar power utilization should start from the houses in order to make the people more aware of the importance of solar power in meeting the future energy requirements. Wind Energy projects implemented in England Wind energy is a major renewable energy source for places where wind availability is immense. UK in general and England in particular are blessed with the availability of wind and many wind farms and mills are currently operating across England in order to convert wind energy into toehr forms of energies. The approval of a 12-turbine wind farm has made County Durham the first county in England to hit its renewable energy targets. The Banks Development project, located between Tow Law and Lanchester, was passed by Derwentside councillors in December 2005 meaning County Durham will hit its target of 82 MW of renewable energy generation by 2010 (Barningham High Moor, 1998) Durham utilizes wind power to make electricity and many houses in Durham is currently operating with the help of electrical energy converted from wind. Durham utilizes large scale and small scale turbines based on the availability of wind to make electricity from wind power. In some places the availability of wind might be more and such places are installed with big wind turbines whereas some other places in the Durham area may have small amount of wind available and such places utilizes small wind turbines. The London Array is a proposed 1,000MW wind farm that will be built 20km off the Kent and Essex coast of England. This wind farm will comprise 341 wind turbines and will produce enough electricity to power up to 750,000 homes. The investors of this project until recently formed a joint partnership of DONG Energy, E.ON Power and Gas and Shell WindEnergy. The London Array project was proposed for completion in 2010 (Pizerule, 2010) Kent and Essex are two major counties in England which focuses heavily on the development of wind power. In fact a substantial amount of houses in this area is currently utilizing wind power. These counties have more scope for the development of wind power than any other regions in England because of the increased availability of natural wind. Tidal Energy projects implemented in England Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and sun on the ocean which an be utilized for making energy. Tides forms in different heights with different energies and these tidal energies can be utilized effectively to produce electricity. Smith, (2009) has written on Times Online about a huge tidal energy project in England. A £22 billion tidal energy project, The Cardiff-Weston barrage project is currently on cards in England in order to meet the energy requirements of England. This project would provide almost 5 per cent of Britain’s electricity needs. Moreover, The Cardiff-Weston barrage would be expected to provide work for 18,000 people for at least seven years (Smith, 2009). The above project is a controversial one in England at present because of the suspected negative impacts it may cause to the environment. This project may destroy the habitat of a substantial amount of ocean creatures and many environmentalists currently arguing against this project. Wave Energy projects implemented in England Many people don’t know the differences between waves and tides. Tides are formed because of gravitational force whereas waves are formed because of the action of wind on sea. Waves can attain many meters in height. The energy stored in the waves will be in the form of potential energy and this potential energy would be increased if the height of the waves increased. The potential energy stored in the waves can be used to rotate turbines and to generate electricity. It's called wave energy and south west England is the world leader in tapping into this new source of renewable energy. There taking the marine energy science from the classroom and putting it at the bottom of the sea. If estimates are correct, they look to score as much of 20KW of power from the wave hub. It is a large grid-connected socket on the seabed for wave energy devices to be tested on a scale not seen before (Bryan, 2010).  Bio-fuel projects in England Biofuels are wide variety of fuels derived from biomasses. These biomasses can be solids, liquids and gases. Biodiesel which can be used in automobiles can be derived from vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled greases. Sugar starch animal fats vegetable oil etc can also be used to produce biofuels. Some plants can also be used to make biodiesel. In fact in many countries such plants are extensively planted to produce biodiesel. In order to name a fuel as biofuel, it should contain at least 80% of renewable materials or biomasses. Biomasses British Airways has struck a deal to build the first plant in Europe to produce jet fuel from waste matter. Some 500,000 tonnes of waste will be used by the UK facility each year to produce 16 million gallons of fuel. Construction of the plant in east London will start within two years. It is set to produce fuel from 2014, creating up to 1,200 jobs (Scott, 2010). Production of biofuels from waste materials is a blessing in tackling the environmental pollution also. The toxic gases liberated from biomasses can cause severe damages to the environment. Thus the utilization of biomasses for producing energy can be useful in two ways; reduction of waste and production of energy. Conclusions Renewable energy sources are the future energy sources. It is impossible for us to plan projects based on the nonrenewable energy sources. Nonrenewable energy sources will exhaust one day whereas the renewable energy sources will last for ever. Solar energy, tidal energy, wind energy, wave energy, biofuels etc are some of the major renewable energy sources used in England at present. It is necessary for England to develop more nonrenewable energy sources for its future requirements. References 1. Barningham High Moor, (1998), Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://www.wind-farm.co.uk/ 2. Bryan C (2010), Wave energy technology on deck with south west England's wave hub project set to launch, Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://www.examiner.com/x-43343-Energy-Policy-Examiner~y2010m4d24-Wave-energy-technology-on-deck-with-south-west-Englands-wave-hub-project-set-to-launch 3. Huddersfield - the solar energy capital of the UK, (n. d), Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://www.totalsolarenergy.co.uk/solar-energy-2.html 4. Pizerule (2010), Offshore Wind Power Projects, Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://hubpages.com/hub/Offshore-Wind-Power-Projects 5. Scott R (2010), BA agrees deal for UK jet biofuel plant, Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8515620.stm 6. Smith L (2009), Tidal energy project 'will be funded by taxpayer', Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5592523.ece Read More